MySQLDump - Command line password

[Cabbar Duzayak]

Hi,

I have setup cronjobs to take daily backups of my db using mysqldump.
But the problem is, mysqldump requires the password to be passed via
command line, which means anyone on the same machine can take a peek
at my password using "top", "ps -ef", etc.

Is there a way of avoiding this, i.e. making it read the password from
some file, etc? Or, is there any other alternative I can use?

Thanks...